Cognitive ethology of birds

We study how singing birds deal with dangers they have to face in their natural environment. We focus specifically on how birds react to unsuitable or dangerous prey, how they defend themselves against their predators and how the males confront their sexual rivals. Beyond the description of these behaviors we study the mechanisms by which birds recognize danger based on visual and acoustic signals. We conduct our field experiments in summer (experiments by the nests) and in winter (experiments by the feeders). Our model species are great tit (Parus major) and red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), we however study other species too, especially corvids and raptors, but also owls and terns.